


It Hurts

by Fallencellist



Series: Shades of Colors [2]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Jeremy's death, M/M, Mourning, will pull on your heart strings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 13:37:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6909571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallencellist/pseuds/Fallencellist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To lose somebody is a heavy loss. To lose somebody you loved is an even bigger loss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Hurts

**Author's Note:**

> This is something quick, more of a vent writing than anything else. Hope you enjoy it, though be prepared for a bit of sadness. As usual, interpretation of the Purple Guy is from LadyFiszi over on Deviantart.

“It hurts,” Those words were never heard from the lips of the older guard. His cheerful and outgoing personality was replaced with a somber, crushed voice, his words quivering as he held back tears. The older guard with the bright red-orange hair—Fritz Smith—was a similar case to Mike himself: a previously fired employee whom had been given a second chance, however Smith came from the old place, where Jeremy worked. 

“I know...” Mike frowned, unsure what to say to the other guard. The news had shook the whole facility when it came in. Jeremy Fitzgerald, the man who Mike had became close friends with, whom had been missing for days now, was declared dead. Not a single trace, no whisper of him had been seen for days, and they finally called it. He was gone. 

It scared Mike, to think that somebody had picked off the guard, or that Jeremy had just suddenly keeled over, his life ending so quickly. The day before he disappeared, Mike had worried about the blond guard: he was paranoid, jumpy and for some odd reason he had removed all pictures that contained the head guard that were forcefully put into his locker by Mike. The last words he ever heard come from Jeremy were, “Don't trust him.” 

Mike had promised his friend—even if it didn't make sense to him at the time—to continue whatever he was doing, to keep it hidden. It was the only thing he could do. 

The black haired guard frowned, itching mindlessly at the short sideburns growing on the jawline in front of his ears. He still couldn't believe it, he didn't want to accept it. It had to be one of Jeremy's jerkish jokes, that any minute he would come back in, snorting how stupid they were thinking he was dead. At least he could hope. 

One thing that confused the night guard a little was the fact the head guard had vanished shortly after the news had been found out. He told himself that it was because the head guard needed time to sort out his emotions, to deal with the news on his own. The guy didn't seem like one to take his emotions lightly, to let others see it. 

Sighing, Mike pulled off his hat, running his fingers through his messy hair, “God damn this sucks....” The next reaction was not something he expected. 

Frtiz hissed to himself through gritted teeth, tears starting to pour down his face. It shocked Mike: Smith was one of the strongest, stone cold guards the place had. Like Barney—the head guard—he kept his emotions in, rarely showing them, especially in public. 

“Hey, man,” Mike frowned, reaching out a hand to touch the shoulder of the other, “Are you alright?” 

“Do you think I'm alright?” Fritz snapped back at him, pulling away from the extended arm, “It fucking hurts, you know?” The red headed guard squeezed his eyes tightly shut in a fruitless attempt to slow the tears, “After all these years, we finally saw each other again. We finally got to talk with each other and spend time together!” His voice rose as his emotions began to climb higher. 

“You knew Jeremy before?” The younger guard stared in disbelief. He knew that Fritz and Jeremy had worked at the same facility, but neither seemed to speak about the other when they spoke about their old job—though getting anything out of Jeremy regarding his old job made pulling teeth look like a massage. Mike stood his ground, forcing himself to not try to comfort the other, “I knew you guys worked in the same place years ago, but you only worked for one night after taking over the shift from him.” 

“It took us seven god damned years to finally talk to each other again...” Fritz nearly collapsed onto one of the nearby tables, hanging his head low, “and now...” he gulped, once again trying to force back tears, “Now I'll never talk to him again.” Fritz glanced over to Mike, his head still hanging low, “We knew each other farther back than just the fact I took the night shift from him. We...” he sobbed, wiping away a stream of tears with his gloved hand, “We were childhood friends, inseparable. People swore we were in love when we were in high school and college: always hanging with each other. Made sure we had classes together, that we went to the same college...” Fritz trailed off with another sniffle, burying his head into his hands. 

“Were you guys?” Mike quarried without thinking about what he was asking first. Though the question seemed to be a bit out of place, Frtiz let out a small sorrowful laugh, shaking his head. 

“Yeah...” He finally spoke after a few seconds of silence after his short laugh, “Yeah, we were back in college. We got in a fight the day before I took on the night shift from him... He didn't want me to do it—he was worried for my life. I didn't see it then... but he didn't want me to get hurt.” 

“Then he got into the accident the next day...” Mike frowned, remembering this part of the story. He heard it once from Jeremy when they had gotten drunk with Barney one night, “He was hospitalized for months.” 

“Yup... I couldn't see him like that,” Fritz sighed, moving so he was sitting on top of the table now, “I was angry at him. I thought he didn't want me to succeed, that he was bitter that I took his night guard job. Later on, when he finally woke up, I went to visit him... It was the worst thing I could have done. He was so...” the guard stopped, thinking of the right way to describe it, “distant, so off. The moment he saw me, he threw the cup of water they gave him at me, yelling and screaming at me, telling me to eff off and die in a hole because I was a betraying bastard—that I should rot in hell, and to never see him again...” 

Mike sat silently, taking in the words of the other, both sides of the conversation oblivious to the happenings around them. They didn't notice as the head guard left the room he had kept himself in and had retreated into the basement. They didn't notice either as the boss had started to gather up employees, blabbering onto them about something. They were absorbed into their conversation. 

“And I didn't see him again,” Fritz continued with a heavy sigh, tears still wet on his cheeks, replenished by new ones, “Not until I got a call from Fazbear Entertainment, wanting me back on the job after they had a lot of employees quit because of the 'funny business' with the animatronics. That's when we saw each other again... It was like we were strangers who knew each other from another life meeting for the first time. We stood their awkwardly, not knowing how to approach each other...” 

“How did it play out?” Mike sat next to the older guard on the table, glancing down to his head that hung low, looking at the brown eyes, “I guess it didn't go too badly, since you guys didn't go at each others throats.” 

“We didn't talk much, just a quick hello,” Fritz smiled slightly for the first time in a while, but it was still a sad smile, “but after a couple days we started talking more, and then we became just how we were... or we would have...” He didn't continue after that, his eyes closing tightly. The sorrow was too much for him to handle, softly mumbling under his breath, “It hurts so much...” 

“It won't go away...” Mike sighed, resting his face in his own hands, feeling the moister of his own tears starting to flow down his cheeks. The tears gently plopped onto his palm, slipping between his fingers and dropping to his dark purple pants, “It's going to stay for a long time...” 

“I miss him so much...” Fritz sobbed, bringing his legs up to his chest, “I feel so cold... so alone. I don't want this to be real...” The other was voicing exactly what Mike had felt himself: he wanted to beg, to plead to make it not so. But, no amount of begging or pleading would make it different. This was the cold hard reality. 

“I miss him too...” Mike admitted aloud, “I even miss him being an asshole to me, like how he was when we first met and he had to train me in something I already knew. I just want to hear it once, at least once more, to hear him yell at me, to call me some vulgar name and then add some stupid sass filled comment about how mediocre I was doing at life... It's silly to say, ya know, that you miss somebody being such an ass to you.” 

“Hah,” Fritz let out another sorrowful laugh, finally lifting up his head, “Yeah. You miss the stupidest things when you can't have them anymore. Like,” he paused with a sniff, trying to make it easier on him to breath, “He would usually tear up the photos we took because he said they contained an ugly person and a beautiful angle, then tell me I was the ugly person.” 

Mike couldn't help but grin, “Yeah, he wasn't one for pictures. The only picture he willingly put up into his locker was one of him and his little sister. The other ones I had to keep replacing and try to get him to smile at least once when I took them. It's not as easy as you would think.” 

“He wasn't much of one to smile,” Fritz nodded slowly, “There was only one picture he never tore up, that he kept on him like I did.” Reaching back the older guard pulled out his wallet, then after shuffling through the various cards and IDs he had, he pulled out a small photo, showing it to Mike. 

In the photo was the two guards, much younger than they were today, perhaps in their teenage years. They both stared into the camera, Fritz holding the camera up with one hand why flipping off the thing with his other, his tongue slightly sticking out. Jeremy had his hands crossed over his chest in his usual stance, the two back to back. The only thing different was there was a big smile on Jeremy's face, his teeth exposed and his eyes bright—almost a smile that could beat Mike's cheeky grin. 

It was almost strange, to see the man he knew as a grumpy butt with such a bright big smile. The picture brought a small smile to Mike in the midst of his sorrow, “Wow,” he tried to let out a genuine chuckle, “Look at that, Jeremy knew how to smile...” 

“Oh he had some of the best smiles, just getting him to give a sincere smile was hard, and to get him not to do a fake one or a sinister one was even harder,” Fritz laughed, replacing the picture back into his wallet. 

The two sat in silence, deep in their own thoughts and sorrow, until the quiet was broken by the clicking of footsteps. Both looked up to see the solemn face of the head guard, “Smith, Schmidt,” his voice was low, “I need to speak with you two for a moment.” 

“Can't you see we're having a moment here, Barney?” Fritz sneered lightly, looking up to the man, “but fine, go ahead. What is it?” Mike kept silent, giving the head guard a small nod to signal that he was listening. 

Sighing to himself, Barney spoke up, “Schmidt you should be heading home since it's past the night shift, and,” he added the next part through slightly clenched teeth, “You don't need to come back for the night shift tonight.” 

“What?” Mike jerked into an upright position his eyes widening a bit, “Why not?” 

“The boss wants to close down the Pizzeria for the day, which includes the night shift. He wants to do a sweep of the place to make sure there isn't anything,” Barney sneered, quoting the words of Mr. Paine, the owner of Fazbear Entertainment, “'Incriminating evidence left behind.'” 

“Oh great so that means I don't have anything to do today as well,” Fritz huffed, wiping away a few of the tears resting on his cheeks. Barney nodded before silence fell over them again. 

This time it was Fritz who broke the silence, standing up onto his feet, “Well then I'm not going to spend my time any longer in this place,” he glanced to Barney then to Mike, “I'm going to go get something to eat then watch maybe some depressing Disney movie like the Lion King or Bambi. You two can mope around your own places or you can come join me.” 

Mike took a few moments before getting up himself, smiling a little, “I think I'll take you up on that offer.” 

The two glanced over to Barney, who gave them a stern confused look, “You're serious?” When neither's expressions changed, the head guard snorted a little, “I'd love to, but I don't get the whole day off like the rest of you. I have to discuss some changes to the guard schedule with...” He visibly shivered as he said the name, “Grace,” then calmed down to his normal demeanor, “And then I have other plans.” 

Shrugging Fritz turned to the exit, waving Mike to follow, “Suit yourself. Enjoy your time with Mrs. Goody Two Shoes and whatever else you do with your life.” Mike followed the other not too far behind, giving Barney a small wave before they both left the facility. 

Left alone in the facility, Barney sighed, closing his eyes. He opened them again, a new glimmer in them, something dark. He quickly turned around, taking a quick glance in the direction of the basement, a flicker of a small speck of sorrow in his cold shark-like eyes, “Sorry old friend, but it had to be done.”


End file.
